Mike Matei
Michael "Mike" Matei is an American writer, video editor, commentator, game reviewer, and executive producer for Cinemassacre Productions. He works alongside James Rolfe writing, editing and starring in a wide variety of productions by the company. Matei is best known for being the co-writer, illustator and executive producer for The Angry Video Game Nerd (series). He has played many guest characters on the show, and illustrated the title cards that appear in the show's intro (episodes 5-100, 139). The fanbase sometimes refers to Matei as "Motherfucker Mike" since he plays a character who is a cheating bastard on the Cinemassacre series "Board James", and is credited as such in the show. And he's widely known for playing character roles on The Angry Video Game Nerd such as Bugs Bunny, The Joker and Jason Voorhees. Matei created the Cinemassacre's Youtube channel in 2006. He named it "JamesNintendoNerd", since at that point they were undecided on the show's official title (before the name "Angry Video Game Nerd" was conceived). Matei sometimes does his own game reviews on the main Cinemassacre YouTube channel. Mike's Game Glitches On January 14, 2011, Mike Matei did his first solo video for Cinemassacre "How to Jump Over The Flagpole on Stage 1-1 in Super Mario Bros". Which went viral on the web. In interviews, Matei has stated that he originally was going to include this as part of the abandoned video "AVGN Game Glitches 2". Instead, Matei started his own spin-off series called "Mike's Game Glitches", where he showed the audience how to perform glitches and tricks in video games. This series ran from Feb 2011 to Feb 2012. Currently Matei spends most of his time editing James & Mike Mondays and other Cinemassacre videos. Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Mike Matei's initial role for Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie did not involve production on the film itself. Instead, Matei remained on the East coast to maintain the Cinemassacre website and YouTube channel. He produced a variety of content such as Motherfuckin' Mondays, Top 10's and game reviews. Rolfe left for California in January 2012 to start pre-production on the AVGN feature film. The filming did not begin until April 2012. Since Matei began posting his own content, their YouTube channel has gained over 500,000 additional subscribers. And Matei has earned a huge fanbase of his own doing reviews of obscure games. On March 20th, 2013 the Cinemassacre YouTube channel reached the 1 million subscriber mark, coinciding with the release of Matei's Pandemonium! review for PS1. Matei has been helping Rolfe write and edit AVGN episodes since 2006, and they have been working on videos together since they met in college. In a Reddit interview it was announced Matei will most likely not appear in the AVGN feature film because Matei does not consider himself an actor. He plans to stick to web content only. However on Friday, November 9, 2012 Rolfe was asked about this at the live premiere of the AVGN Movie trailer at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, to which Rolfe replied: "It's funny, we never even talked about it yet, but I think, like, he's going to end up in the movie accidentally somehow, 'cause that's how it always happens." AVGN characters played by Mike Matei * Friday the 13th - Jason Voorhees * A Nightmare on Elm Street - Freddy Krueger (Krueger was played mainly by James, but during scenes where the Nerd and Krueger were onscreen together, Matei stood in for the part of Krueger.) * Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout - Bugs Bunny * The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Leatherface, Chop Top * Halloween - Michael Myers * The Wizard of Oz - The Cowardly Lion * Star Trek - Klingon, Metron * Batman Part 1 and Part 2 - The Joker * Frankenstein - Franken-Nerd (voiced by James imitating Boris Karloff) * Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle - Bugs Bunny * Lethal Weapon - Unidentified character * Mega Man Games - Bugs Bunny Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures Matei appeared as a playable character in 2013's The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures. He wields a red lightsaber and has the ability to see through blocks hiding items that will assist the play such as health. His only quote is "Hey, Nerd! You're here too!" once the player stumbles upon him. When the actual Nerd reviewed such a game in AVGN Games, he didn't know who Mike was. This is because Mike only appears behind the scenes between the Nerd's fictitious world and James Rolfe's real world. The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures 2: ASSimilation Matei returns in 2016's The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures 2: ASSimilation who unlike the last game isn't a playable character this time instead is serves as the guide for the tutorial level after being saved by the Nerd after he was defeated in his enemy form. He also appears in the opening & ending cutscenes to the game along side the Bullshit Man & Shit Pickle who are turned into enemies by Death Mwauthzyx in the opening cutscene. Interviews NintendoEnthusiast - Interview with Mike Matei RareGamer - Satlazer talks to AVGN's Mike Matei Retrospect - An Interview with Mike Matei MakeUseOf - Interview with Mike Matei